Motor-vehicle.



L. S. ROSS.

MOTOR VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED EAN.22.1907.

1,082,047, v Patented Dec. 23, 1913.

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llNiTED @TATES PATENT @FFICE.

LOUIS; SANIQRZD ROSS, OF NEWTONVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

MOTOR-VEHICLE.

Specification o1 Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 23,1913.

, A'pplicationflledJanuary22,190?. Scr1alNo.353,451.

To (112 whom it. may concern Be it known that 11, LOUIS S. Ross, acitizen of. the United States. and. resident of i ewtonville, county ofMiddlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inMotor Vehicles or Cycles, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to motor vehicles or cycles and more particularlyto the driving and power transmission mechanisms with which they areprovided.

As hitherto constructed, motor vehicles, cycles and the; like areusually provided with what is termed compensating or balance gears,commonly called differential gear, the object of which is. to allow ofdifierentiation or compensation in the speed of the two geared wheels,which rotate the divided shaft, and, the drive wheels. Notwithstandingthe. many improvements in differential gear mechanism for dividedshafts, there are still defective features both in construction and.operation which, as yet, have not been overcome. Among these is theirineifective action when running upon ice or snow, or upon muddy orotherwise slippery ground or pavement. It will be apparent, to thoseskilled in the art, that in running a straight course the drive wheelshaving the same traction? rotate at equal speeds, but in turning orunder other conditions. the. drive wheel having. the least traction isdriven rapidly while that having the most traction either turns slowlyor may When either wheel, runs upon ice, snow or mud, its tractionv isgreatly reduced. and if this takes place in turning, the wheel spin-srapidly while the other wheel remains relatively stationary, if notactually so, owing to the intermediate connection between the. parts.of. the divided shaft.

My invention aims. generally to provide, a motor vehicle of improved.type that eliminotes: the use of mechanical.- (lifierentialv gearentirely and also contemplates the utilization of the elasticity orexpansive force of the driving agent, such as steam, as a differentialin turning.

The above, however, with other novel features of my invention, will bebest understood and appreciated. from the. following description, whenconsidered in connection l with the accompanying drawings, of anautomobile embodying one form of my invention, and selected for purposesof illustration, the invention being more particularly defined andpointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan of. an automobile illustrating aselected embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 a vertical sectional detailtaken from the front on the line 2-2, Figs. 1 and 3, and on a somewhatlarger scale; Fig. 3, a. side elevation there.- of, and Fig. 4t, adetail to show the connections intermediate the operating lever andbrake band.

Referring to the drawings and to the par ticular embodiment of myinvention selected for illustration herein, 1 (Figs. 1: and 3)represents the automobile frame, at the front and rear of, which aresupporting, springs 2 and 3 (Fig. 3). the former being connected withthe front axle, the latter with a truss frame 41 carrying the tractionwheels 5. The front wheels 6 are controlled. by a steering wheel 7 atthe front of the frame, in front of. which and over the front axle, is agenerator 8 connected by a steam pipe 9 and throttle valve 10 pipe 11leading to the rear of the frame and to suitable engines mountedthereon.

All of the above may be of, any desired or suitable construction and, asthey form no part of my present invention, need not bev furtherdiscussed.

Referring now to Fig, 2, I provide at the rear of the frame a dividedaxle comprising two live or driving shafts 12,.each of which has a drivewhee1'5 secured in any suitable manner at its outer end anddriven withits shaft. An important, feature, of my inven tion resides in the meansfor mounting thesedrive-shafts so that while axially sepa rated. onefrom another, they may be, independently and separately driven and yetact as a differential in turning. To this end, I provide the truss framet with a plurality of tubular bearing axles 13 and 14, Fig. 2. extendingtransversely of the frame and axially arranged. and secured to andwithin the truss frame 4, together constituting, a continuous supportingaxle for the rear of the body frame. The intermediate tubular bearingaxle 1.4, is centrally arranged and provided with suitable frictionbearings; for

example, ball. bearings 15, for the inner of the, independent drivingshafts 12,

with a steam supply the bearing axles 13 having similar ball" bearings16 preferably adjacent its ends for said shafts. These ball bearings 15and 16 also act as and constitute thrust bearings to preventlongitudinal movement of said shafts. Each of these shafts is adapted torotate freely in its bearings and has no connection with the other, sothat rotation of one can have no sheet 11 on the other. For drivingthese separate shafts independently, each is provided with a car wheel17, shown as splined thereto (l lg. 2), wh ch may be of any desired typeor construction according to the type and arran ement of engine it ispreferred to use. In t e present embodiment of my invention, however,said gear wheel is meshed with a straight gear wheel 18, mounted on saidtruss frame 4 1n front of its drive shaft 12. Rotation of this gearwheel '18 rotates the gear 17 and shaft 12 and hence its. drivewheel 5.For driving this gear 18, any suitable or desired type of engine may beemployed and my invention contemplates the use of both steam and gasengines, but I prefer that herein shown, wherein a steam engine 19 ofthe double or twin cylinder type is provided, having their connectingrods 20 coupled at right angles to said gear 18, so thatthe engine hasno dead center and is always ready to operate when steam is up. Theseengines may be supported or mounted in any suitable manner but as hereshown are preferably arranged horizontally, Fig. 1, in the same plane assaid shafts 12. The steam pipe 11 branches through the side pipes 21,Fig. 1, to the separate engines for each shaft, 12, and each pipe has anindependent throttle valve 22 by which the engine may be controlled.Each shaft is also provided with suitable brake mechanism by which theload may be increasedv so as to govern the speed of rotation. In thepresent instance, I provide a disk 23 having a brake band 24 having itsends connected by a toggle lever 25. These two toggle levers are adaptedto be simultaneously operated and to that end are connected by a link26, Fig. 3, to an operative lever 27, Fig. 3, at the front of theinachine.

ln operation, each engine independently drives its own shaft 12 anddrive wheel 5 and each wheel, when running on a straight course, rotatesat the same speed and as long as the load or traction of each wheel issubstantially the same. When the automobile is turned however, the pivotwheel or the one moving on a shorter radius, has greater traction, whichincreases-the load on the engine, diminishes its speed of driving, andhence the speed of the axle and wheel driven thereby. The other drivewheel, however, moving on a flatter curve of longer radius and through agreater distance, has much less traction than when running straight,

insane? reducing the load on the engine and rotating, or causing saidwheel to run,'at higher speed, and as is desired in turning corners orrunnin on curves. By this arrangement, it will be apparent that the twoengines and the two driven shafts and wheels 0 crate even moreefliciently than a divided s aft provided with difil'crential ar, hasall the advantages of the latter an so far as known, none of thedisadvantages.

Each engine, continuously transmits more or less power to and drives itsconnected wheel continuously, independent of the operation ofthe other.These drive wheels are thus always moved by their own power; some power,and this is of considerable importance, always being at work on eachwheel though producing difierent speeds of driving or rotation. This isa decided advantage over the difierential gear mechanism as the latterfrequently throws all power upon one wheel and if the latter happens tobe spinning on ice or snow and the other stationary as described, causesthe au tomobile to stop. It will, furthermore, be apparent that byhaving some power always upon both wheels, much of the lurching andsluing will be eliminated and the danger resulting therefrom reduced toa minimum.

The variation inspeeds of the wheels 5, produced by the variation inload or traction is effected through the steam itself, which, because ofits expansive force or elasticity, automatically adapts itself to thevariation in load or traction and within certain limits is controlledthereby. My invention thus provides means to permit the steam tofunction as a difi'erential gear and as an equivalent therefor. Myinvention also contemplates driving an automobile from either side orone side only. In the present instance, this result is attained in asimple manner by providing the branch pipes 21 with the independent andauxiliary throttles 22 described, so that the steam for the engine 19,controlled thereby, may be shut 0d or admitted. With one throttle closedand the other open, the drive wheel at but one side of the frame will bedriven, but this will rotate with sufficient force and speed to drivethe automobile. By varying the admission of steam to each engine thework of the two engines when operated simultaneously may be distributedor varied so as to favor one or the other side as conditions may requireor as may be desired.

By my invention 1 have provided simple and efiective difierentialdriving mechanism of novel type and'construction, that utilizes theexpansive or elastic forceof the driving agent, for example, steam, as adifferential by the provision of independent engines for each driveshafh'the speed of which is varied by the loader traction.

So far as I am aware and believe I am the first to provide an automobileor other motor vehicle or cycle with power transmission and drivingmechanism of this type or of any type that utilizes the inherentelasticity of the steam as a differential.

My invention, obviously, is not limited to the specific embodiment of myinvention herein shown and described nor to the specific details ofconstruction and arrangement, it being understood that the same is hereselected for purposes of illustration only and may be modified withinwide lim-- its without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. In a motor vehicle, the combination of a frame, anaxially separated sectional hollow bearing axle, a sectional axle havingits several ends journaled therein, two of said ends being journaled inthe same bearing section, a driving wheel on each axle section andpositioned between adjacent ends of said bearing axles, and an en inefor separately driving each driving w eel.

2. In a motor vehicle or cycle, a frame, a plurality of separatedtubular bearing axles including one at each side of the frame and onearranged intermediate the same to provide a central bearing, said axlesbeing ar ranged transversely and axially beneath the frame and providedwith means for securing them thereto, a driving shaft mounted in each ofthe side bearing axles, having its inner end journaled in said centralbearing axle, and an engine connected to each shaft intermediate itsbearings for driving the same.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS SANFORD ROSS.

Witnesses:

SIDNEY F. SMITH, EVERETT S. EMERY.

